Is this a 'Tax Refund Hoax' ?

bubbleoflife_2

Today I received an email that left me rather perplexed having filed my tax returns online only a couple of days ago.
The link where it reads 'complete your tax refund here..... click here' it actually redirects to a site somewhere in Hungary !?!

Has anyone else received a similar email after filing returns?

The email reads as follows (I'm not allowed to post links so I've edited the links adding a spaces in between letters and removed the http)

***********************************

HM Revenue & Customs <refunds@hmrc.co.uk>
to refund-1125 @ hmrc.co.uk
date 30 January 2011 15:04
subject Tax Refund New Message Alert-


TAX RETURN FOR THE YEAR 2010
RECALCULATION OF YOUR TAX REFUND
HMRC 2010-2011
LOCAL OFFICE No. 3819
TAX CREDIT OFFICER: Lisa Frank
TAX REFUND ID NUMBER: 381716209
REFUND AMOUNT: 244.79 GBP

Dear Applicant,

The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential and as
applicable, copyright in these is reserved to HM Revenue & Customs.
Unless expressly authorised by us, any further dissemination or
distribution of this email or its attachments is prohibited.

If you are not the intended recipient of this email, please reply to
inform us that you have received this email in error and then delete it
without retaining any copy.

I am sending this email to announce: After the last annual calculation of
your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a
tax refund of 244.79 GBP

Complete you TAX REFUND NUMBER ID: ..... BY CLICKING HERE


After completing the form, please submit the form by clicking the SUBMIT
button on form and allow us 5-9 business days in order to process it.

Our head office address can be found on our web site at HM Revenue & Customs: www . hmrc.gov.uk

Sincerely,

Lisa Frank
HMRC Tax Credit Office
Preston
TAX REFUND ID: UK.... -HMRC

© Copyright 2011, HM Revenue & Customs UK All rights reserved.

***************

The only legitimate and misleading link is the one of hmrc.gov.uk

It goes without saying that I did not click there!

Mikeyorks

It's a scam ........... delete it. HMRC do not Email

(You have the same 'clerk' and refund value !!)


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3018814

bubbleoflife_2

Mikeyorks wrote: »

It's a scam ........... delete it. HMRC do not Email
...(You have the same 'clerk' and refund value !!)
....

I've deleted it already. Thank you for confirming my suspicions

System

These scams stand the best chance of working if receipt happens to coincide with a genuine correspondence.
We were in discussions with HMRC over a possible tax refund, and then the same email as yours arrived. I ignored it, but you can see how a proportion of recipients are caught out.

I did forward it to the HMRC investigations section, but I heard nothing.

bubbleoflife_2

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

These scams stand the best chance of working if receipt happens to coincide with a genuine correspondence.
We were in discussions with HMRC over a possible tax refund, and then the same email as yours arrived. I ignored it, but you can see how a proportion of recipients are caught out.

I did forward it to the HMRC investigations section, but I heard nothing.

I wonder how the email sniffers/fishers get to work out that one has file on-line? Unless it's just a coincidence given that it was at the time close to deadline, so it's a matter of probability these scamsters work. Perhpas the techies might enlighten us. In the meatime I'll download a better firewall et all.

laticsforlife

I know this has been answered but I just cant help myself.

How stupid must a person be to even need to ask the question is this a scam, when the e-mail comes from Hungary !!!

Are you serious, is it any wonder people get scammed if they can't spot the blindingly obvious.

When did you realise, was if before or after you gave your PIN number away??

dunstonh

You can spot the errors in the email which are common with many email scams.

1 - refunds@hmrc.co.uk - HMRC is not a company. So, use of a .co.uk domain is an obvious pointer.
2 - RECALCULATION OF YOUR TAX REFUND HMRC 2010-2011 - There is no such thing as HMRC 2010-2011. Its not plain english and its not correct jargon.
3 - Dear Applicant, - any real email that is for your attention will have your real name on it and contain something to show it is you.
4 - copyright in these is reserved to HM Revenue & Customs. - HMRC falls under crown copyright. So, that is an error
5 - I am sending this email to announce: After the last annual calculation of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of 244.79 GBP - The grammar is wrong and not the language that would be used.
6 - Our head office address can be found on our web site at HM Revenue & Customs - HMRC head office!!!!

Usually you can spot American text or international English rather than British English or poor translation as well. Although I havent immediately spotted any in this one. However, the faults are pretty easy to spot.